Bottled water sales in the United States reached 8.82 billion gallons in 2007, worth $11.7 billion, making the U.S. market for bottled water the largest in the world, according to Beverage Marketing, a provider of beverage industry data. Worldwide, water bottlers sold 47 billion gallons, or 178 billion liters, in 2006, up from 43 billion gallons in 2005.
Campaigners against bottled water cite concerns that include energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions, waste, the environmental effect of water extraction, the perils of privatization and social issues.
"We're at the beginning of an awakening of the costs of our bottled water use," said Peter Gleick, president of the Pacific Institute, a sustainable development research organization in Oakland, California.
Last year, the institute saw "cities canceling contracts and prohibiting employees from buying bottled water," Gleick said. "We saw restaurants very publicly moving away from bottled water. We saw public campaigns starting. We saw local controversies."
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